3 more COVID-19 cases linked to Australian Open arrivals

Two players are among the three latest COVID-19 cases that have emerged from testing conducted on passengers who arrived on charter flights bringing people to Melbourne for the Australian Open.

Tournament director Craig Tiley said the players weren’t considered to be contagious, though, and hadn’t been taken out of the regular quarantine hotels.

The first six positive tests were reported over the weekend and connected to flights from Los Angeles, Abu Dhabi and Doha, Qatar.

All passengers on those flights, including 72 elite tennis players, were classified by local health authorities as close contacts of people infected with the coronavirus and forced into hard lockdown. That means they’re not allowed to leave their hotel rooms for the mandatory 14-day quarantine period. The six infected people, including a member of the aircrew on one flight and two coaches on different flights, were transferred to a medical hotel.

The Victoria state government announced three new positive tests on Tuesday, the first to involve players.

The Australian Associated Press quoted Tiley as saying the health department “will need to confirm that they are viral shedding but I can tell you that they’re not in the medical hotel.”

Tennis Australia declined to provide The Associated Press with a list of the 72 affected players, but many have made their status known via posts on social media.

More than 1,200 players, coaches, staff, officials and media arrived on flights in a 36-hour period until Saturday morning to prepare for the Australian Open, which starts Feb. 8…….read more

 

Source: AP News

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